


Fighting Young Ladies

by NevillesGran



Category: Cosmere - Brandon Sanderson, Stormlight Archive - Brandon Sanderson
Genre: Ableist Language, Family, Gen, Pre-Canon, Renarin Kholin Protection Squad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-15
Updated: 2018-02-15
Packaged: 2019-03-18 22:31:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 999
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13691190
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NevillesGran/pseuds/NevillesGran
Summary: Consigned to his bedroom fortotally justifiedfighting, young Adolin Kholin receives an unexpected visitor.





	Fighting Young Ladies

Adolin was not sulking. A Prince of Kholin did not sulk; his nurses and tutors and even his mother were always very clear about that. He had been banished from Elhokar’s party, sent to his room without lunch, and forbidden from the training ground or  _anything_  fun for three days, but he had borne it with the dignity of his house. Just because he was sitting on his bed with his knees drawn up to his chest, scowling at the afternoon shadows that crept across his floor, did not mean he was sulking.

Anyway, he was right, and a warrior, and warrior didn’t sulk. His father never sulked. The Blackthorn wouldn’t hear an insult to his family - no one would dare, and if they did, he would draw his Shardblade and duel them right there, and everyone would cheer and no one would send  _him_  to his room without lunch.

Adolin scowled harder at the floor. That argument had failed to sway his mother. 

The door creaked open and he sprang to his feet. Maybe it was Renarin, sneaking in to keep him company. They’d have to be quiet, but he had some games in here. Maybe it was his mother, coming to lecture him some more but then forgive him, and let him go back outside after all. Maybe, impossibly, it was his father, back suddenly from campaign but not in a bad, losing way, and he would be stern but say that he was proud of Adolin, and they could go train with swords and have lunch together.

(It was halfway through the afternoon now, and Adolin had been in trouble since just before he’d gotten a chance to eat. He was  _hungry_.)

It was the worst of all three worlds: his cousin Jasnah, looking more disapproving than any parent. She was dressed all fancy, in a dark blue gown with flared skirts and embroidery like snowflakes. She had probably only just come from Elhokar’s birthday party, which of course had gone on without Adolin there to enjoy it.

She would scold him about it - she always took the side of adults - but Adolin sat back on the bed and crossed his arms over his chest. “What are  _you_  doing here?”

Jasnah did purse her painted lips at him. “Watching my cousin slouch like a kitchen boy deprived of his sweets, apparently, rather than a young prince who has been old enough to wield a sword for three years now.”

Adolin straightened on reflex, and then deliberately slouched again. “It’s not like I get to fight for real.”

“Perhaps if you saved it for a war,” she said dryly, “rather than punching a young lady nearly twice your age in the middle of the crown prince’s birthday party.”

“She deserved it.” Adolin’s head snapped up with burning eyes. “Linian deserved it. She said-”

He caught himself, and looked away as his fists clenched again. He loosened them slowly. He wasn’t sulking, and he wasn’t just whining about his punishment to the first person to talk to him. A real soldier took his licks without complaint. 

“What did she say?” 

Jasnah’s tone was arch, but curious. It made Adolin relax a little more truly. He didn’t talk with his older cousin much, but if she was looking for information rather than just looking to be bossy, she could be alright. 

He crossed his arms back over his chest, and refused to drop her sharp gaze again. “She called Ren a  _cripple_.” He spat the word. “So I punched her.”

“Hmm.” Jasnah’s lips thinned further, a sure sign of scolding to come. A true sign: “You still should never have struck her. In this country, women do not, as a rule, engage in combat, so it was crass of you to do so. You look after your brother;  _I_  will take care of Lady Linian.”

She had a look in her eyes that Adolin did not usually associate with his strict older cousin. It was like the glint when she started court-arguing with her father the king about politics (the  _worst_  family suppers), but with an extra edge that made him think about the moment in a duel when you knew someone was about to get really, badly hurt. There was a brutal ferocity to it.

He gaped up at her. “Are  _you_  going to fight her?”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Adolin,” said Jasnah. “I shall destroy her.” 

And with a sweep of her skirts she was out the door - until she leaned back and added, “I expect Renarin will sneak away from your mother in about an hour to bring you some food. She’s keeping a close watch on him for now.”

Then she was gone, and the door closed as if she had never been there at all, and it was another moment before Adolin remembered that he was sulking - or not. He settled back on the bed, but found that he did not feel nearly as wretched as before.

It was mostly the promise of food, and the assurance that Ren wasn’t staying away because he was angry. Sometimes he got like that, when people made a fuss about his...problems. When Adolin made a fuss. (Nobody else really did, ever. Not the same way, at least.) Jasnah was a strong ally, but an erstwhile one - she would probably, Adolin thought bitterly, get distracted by a new book and forget her promises to anyone younger than 300 years old.

Food, though, and Renarin. Adolin, a warrior and heir of the Kholin princedom, could hold out another hour of punishment for those.

\- - -

(Lady Linian Thanadal left the royal court in disgrace some five weeks later. Adolin did not hear the full story, because it was mostly woman’s stuff and he had sword lessons to study, but it was apparently a matter of great embarrassment. Renarin smiled to himself when they heard, which was good enough for his brother. Jasnah had long-since buried herself in a new research project.)

**Author's Note:**

> Unnecessary comment: don't deprive your kids of food as punishment. It's a dick move and they'll get malnourished. Time-outs probably not that great, either.
> 
> No beta-reader, so PLEASE point out any typos and I will fix them. Also, leave a comment! Favorite line? Constructive criticism?


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